Nightmares
by JamesK716
Summary: Karis runs from her worst fears, and nightmares, with a helpful dossage of DawnShipping.


Nightmares

Karis ran as fast as she could. A massive Fury Demon, bigger than any ever before, was chasing her. But that wasn't even the worst of it. It had slaughtered, no butchered her friends. Tyrell had been decapitated. Himi had had her limbs ripped out and thrown over the Ascent. Sveta had received a blow that shattered her skull. Eoleo's leg was sliced clean off, and he bled out slowly. Rief's jugular had been bitten out, and swallowed. The Fury Demon had ripped out Amiti's arms and beat him to death with the arms. Kraden had promptly received a heart attack and died. Finally, Matthew had had his eyes gouged out and stuffed down his throat, where he slowly choked to death.

Worst of all, Karis couldn't do anything but run. So that's what she did. She cried sure, but she ran faster with each tear. Karis' only hope was to reach help. Perhaps the Sanan army, but even that was unlikely. Sana was over three day's journey away. But Karis couldn't think of that now. She had to run. She had to warn Angara. She had to do her duty even if it cost her life.

Karis had made it out of the mountains now. She was in the forest, sprinting for her life. Karis called upon her Psynergy and leapt, using the winds to boost herself high enough to land on a tree limb. Karis jumped again, landing further away with each leap. Karis jumped higher up again, hoping that perhaps if she made it high enough, the Fury Demon wouldn't be able to reach her.

Karis reached the highest limb she could and looked back. Nothing. No Fury Demon, no other smaller monsters. In fact, the sky didn't even seem that dark anym-

Karis' train of thought was obliterated as the Fury Demon flew out of the woods and smashed into the Jupiter Adept. Karis closed her eyes as she fell, but then didn't feel an impact. The Adept opened her eyes rapidly, and saw, to her ever growing horror, that she was now in the hands of the Fury Demon. All of her being concentrated onto one thought: Plasma. Instantly, a massive Spark Plasma blasted out of the sky and electrocuted the Fury Demon. Unfortunately, it also electrocuted Karis.

The beautiful young woman fell through the sky at an alarming rate before landing with a loud thud. In addition, Karis was sure that she heard a loud snap. Her fears were confirmed when she looked at her arm, it was broken at the elbow, bending the wrong direction. She also noticed that her clothes were burned badly, and graying. Some of it had even turned to ash.

Karis couldn't worry about that now. She stood and sprinted ahead, pain flowing from her arm to the rest of her body. Karis tried jumping, but couldn't focus her Psynergy, or she was simply out of Psynergy Points. Karis couldn't tell. It was becoming hard to breathe, but Karis kept running through the woods, ignoring her short breaths.

Karis' eyes grew big as she saw a canyon coming up ahead of her. Karis slowed to a stop, just reaching the edge as her movement ended. The canyon was filled with water, and Karis no longer had any idea where she was at.

The wind expert could hear the Fury Demon stomping forward. The ground was shaking with every step. Worse yet, she couldn't move. She paralyzed by the memories of her fallen friends. Amiti had been her first friend to make in probably ten years. Rief, seeing him had filled her heart with joy. Despite his crush on her, he was still snarky and fun. Eoleo was friendly, if bit crude. Himi was wise and innocent, a look at what they were trying to save; and what they would have to sacrifice. Kraden, a look at the old generation. Sveta, the closest friend she'd ever had. Despite how long she'd been friends with Tyrell and Matthew, some things could only be mentioned to another girl. Tyrell was the loveable oaf that Karis trusted with her life. Finally, Matthew, Karis' oldest friend and who she deeply loved.

Karis turned around, and saw the Fury Demon approach her, ready for a ravenous battle. Karis felt a tear drop off her cheek. This was it. They had failed.

The Fury Demon swung forward with its claw, butchering Karis' chest, and leaving nothing but mangled, bloodied muscles. Karis fell back, somehow managing to cling to the edge of the canyon. She looked up helplessly, as the Fury Demon moved to strike the final blow. But it never came. Instead, the Fury Demon split, and a familiar face came out of the demon.

Well familiar face was putting it lightly. It was Matthew, but he was lacking his eyes, instead, they were gone, replaced by a mess of blood and gore. Karis felt hot tears roll down her face, as Matthew watched her. Then, suddenly, Matthew reached out his hand and pulled her up. _Perhaps he is alive! _Karis thought briefly. She fell onto the ground in exhaustion. She hadn't stopped running for what had felt like years.

"Thank you Matthew." Karis said to the leader. Karis looked away from his face. She can't look at those eyes. If she does… she'll vomit.

Matthew didn't reply. Instead he stood and walked over to Karis.

"What are you doing Matthew?" Karis asked.

Matthew doesn't answer. Instead, he unbuckled his belt, and dropped his pants. Karis screamed loudly, but no one can hear her. Matthew summoned the earth and bound Karis to the ground. Then he reached down to her skirt and ripped it off. Finally, he descended down to her level, about to rape her, when Karis finally breaks.

Tears flew from her eyes, and Karis lifted her legs and kicked Matthew as hard as she could directly into his balls. However, the recoil sent Karis backwards and over the canyon. Karis watched as her mangled body fell into a canyon. Though originally filled with water, now the canyon held lava.

XxX

Karis opened her eyes and sat up. It had all been a dream. Or rather, a nightmare. They were still in the tents. Himi and Sveta were both sleeping peacefully. But Karis couldn't, she kept thinking of Matthew's gouged out eyes. She got out of the tent as fast as she could and sprinted as far away from camp as she can before she finally vomited all over. It didn't help that Eoleo had cooked beef stew for dinner; meaning that the vomit was dark brown and simply disgusting.

Karis looked down at her nightgown and instantly realized that it was ruined. While originally white, now it was a terrible greenish brown that nearly made the Jupiter Adept vomit again. What was even worse was that Karis couldn't go back into the tent with the nightgown because it would stink up the entire place and ruin Sveta's night. And Sveta needed to be doing her best, she was a serious hitter for the group.

Karis cried a little, tears dropping down her face. The Fury Demons were real, Karis had seen them before, and if they really were as strong as they seemed, well, then the group's mission was screwed before it even began.

"Karis, is that you? Are you okay?" It was Matthew, and Karis immediately got up and ran to him; wrapping her arms around the earth boy and hugging him close. Matthew hugged back instantly, that's just who he was.

It took Karis several minutes before she remembered that her nightgown was soaked in puke, and that she wasn't wearing a bra. Karis finally pulled back and cross her arms, but leaned her head against Matthew's shoulder.

"What's wrong?" He asked plainly.

"I had a nightmare." She said, her head not leaving his shoulder.

"And?"

"Everyone was mutilated."

Matthew sighed in understanding. "Karis. You've seen me and Sveta and Tyrell and Eoleo in action. Heck you've seen all of us in action. There isn't any reason to worry."

"But what if a bunch of Fury Demons show up? Or if you fall down the mountain?"

"That's not going to happen, Karis." Matthew replied, wrapping his arms around her.

Karis cried for a little bit there. "I know. It's just… Nightmares."

"I understand. Are you okay now?"  
Karis nodded her head and leaned away from Matthew's chest.

"I'll go into your tent and grab you your tunic, you go down to the river and bathe ok?" Matthew suggested.

Karis shook her head. "You can't do that."

"Why?"

"Himi sleeps naked, apparently it's a Yamatan tradition." Karis revealed.

Matthew sighed. "Then I'll get you one of my shirts. Now go."

Karis nodded and walked a short ways down to the river. When she reached it, she tossed her ruined nightgown into it before leaping in herself.

"Bye, bye vomitgown." Karis muttered to herself.

Karis held her breath and submerged herself in the water. She opened her eyes beneath the current as the water swirled away the puke that was on her. She used her hands to wipe herself on at some parts, but for the most part, the current did the job for her. She also undid her pony-tail and let her hair fall to the ground. She liked it long, but generally kept it in a pony-tail to avoid it getting caught in things.

Karis heard some twigs cracking, and sank further into the water to cover herself. Eventually, Karis looked up and saw Matthew approaching, wearing his signature black pants and a blue jacket, along with a shirt in his hands. What Karis also noticed, was that he had vomit all over his chest. Karis figured that she had thrown up on him when she was crying. She was probably enjoying his chest so much that she hadn't noticed the puke.

Seeing Matthew in puke gave her an idea. And considering that this could easily be there last night together, Karis decided to act on it.

"Matthew? Over here." Karis said, waving to him.

Matthew acknowledged the wave and jogged the last few steps.

"I'll hand my shirt here for you." Matthew said, placing it on a tree limb.

"Matthew. I think you need to wash off too." Karis said, looking at his chest.

Matthew smiled. "Probably. I'll do it when you're done."

Karis smirked. "No its ok. You can take one now. It's dark, and I can't see anything in the water."

"Are you sure?" Matthew asked questioningly.

Karis nodded. "Yeah it's fine."

Karis turned around while Matthew took off his clothes and jumped into the river. He washed off the bile from his own skin, which Karis watched. He washed his hair too, and his armpits. While he was washing himself off, Karis got out and took his shirt, putting it on and buttoning it up. It was too big for her, but not by too much. It went to her mid-thighs.

Karis sat there at the edge of the water and looked up at the beautiful constellations in the sky. Eventually, Matthew got out and put on some pants, then sat next to her.

"Matt."

"Yeah?"

"Can we do it?"

"Save the day? Of course we can."

"No… can we survive." Karis asked, leaning into his shoulder.

"I… I don't know, Karis." Matthew replied honestly.

Karis turned to look at Matthew. "Then let's make this night count."

Karis turned and kissed Matthew passionately.

An hour later, the two spoke again.

"Matthew?"

"Yes?"

"Will you stay here so that I don't have any more nightmares tonight?"

Matthew looked over at Karis and smiled. "As you wish."

_**Author's Note:**_ I actually really like this fic. I think it's one of the better ones I've written. Plus, I've been feeling the One-Shot vibe for a while now; glad I finally let it out. =) bonus points if you got the Princess Bride reference at the end. I feel like everything went well enough in this. I hope that the nightmare was creepy, and I hope that it was a bit confusing too. It was kinda supposed to be. I contemplated making this a Spark-Shipping fic, but I don't think that would have worked very well. I'd also like to at a later point, write a Eoleo-Karis one shot. I think it'd be interesting. Anyway, thanks for reading guys!


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